Where are the ship's officers when you need them?

It starts when Tashtego can't take anymore of the Manxman's annoying ramblings and jumps up from his card game threatening: "You, Manxman! Stop!" Smartly, Manxman doesn't even stand up to challenge growling Indian, who's ready to break him in two. Instead Manxman remains seated and shuts up like he's told.

Later that day it gets more interesting. After Queequeg has gone into his death trance, a bored and idle whaler decides to take a rusty knife to Queequeg's chest and carve him a new tattoo. The offended Ishmael slugs the perpetrator and it's on. The crew gathers to watch one of their mates potentially get stabbed to death. Luckily for Ishmael, Queequeg comes back to life, bends the mischievous prankster over his knee and proceeds to snap his spine. Even more luckily for the prankster, Moby Dick is spotted at that very moment by the mast-head.

Now for the big question. Where are the first, second and third mates throughout this? It appears Capt. Ahab has gone back to his cabin; but in a crew of thirty, someone of authority had to be on deck somewhere. It's a series of fortunate coincidences that no one was killed or maimed on the deck. The offending whaler is saved from Queequeg when the mast-header spies Moby Dick. Ishmael is saved from being stabbed by Queequeg; and Queequeg chest isn't cut into rubber bands because Ishmael stops it. Mr. Starbuck? Mr. Stubb? Mr. Flask, where are ye?

If memory serves, from reading the novel (specifically "The Town-ho" chapter), if there had been a murder or crime on the ship, there was a hold below where the felons would be chained